Read The Room_SpringEzine2022

READ

the

ROOM eZine Spring 2022

Table of Contents Table of Contents

Meet the Editors How to Write a Story Worth Telling The Hero’s Journey Read the Market Austin Libraries A Colorful Bookshelf What Clasical Book Should You Read The Shunned Genre Materials of a Book Journey to the Present Percentages of Mythos

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Pages 6-7 8-11 12-13 14-17 18-19 20-23 24-25 26-29 30-31 32-35 36-37

Meet the editors Paul Sheerin

Paul Sheerin enjoys playing various board games, most of which are described as complex, such as Scythe. He is currently reading the first law trilogy

by Joe Aberchrombie, and he enjoys a lot of books like the Unwanteds, which is a fantasy-dystopian book series by Lisa McMann. Paul doesn’t have an exact goal in mind for after graduation but he is going to go to college.

Karter Henkelman

Karter Henkelman’s hobbies are reading, drawing, and swimming. Their favorite book is Turtles All the Way Down by John Green which is a fictional novel about a girl with OCD. They plan on going to college for neurobiology after they graduate high school. One interesting thing about them is that they cut and dye their own hair at home.

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Kirby Barnhill

Kirby likes graphite drawing and playing jazz on his trumpet. After high school, he wants to go to university for something creativity based like art or music. A fun fact about Kirby is that contrary to popular belief and despite his “flamboyant mannerisms”, he is straight.

Erin Kelly

Erin likes art in a wide variety of mediums, including graphite, charcoal, and watercolor. Her favorite book is No Longer Human by ​​Osamu Dazai, but she also often reads manga, and her favorite is Naruto. After she graduates, she wants to go to college for Architecture. An interesting fact about her is that she’s a huge fan of the one and only, Kanye West

Lalsin Nilian

Lalsin Nilian is the definition of a gamer down to the vocabulary. When asked to describe himself in three words he chose gamer, charismatic, and poggers.

However, you must take into account his admittedly high ego. Lalsin’s other interests include reading, specifically fantasy and historical fiction such as The Unwanteds, Beyonders, the Bible, and anything written by Rick Riordan.

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How to make a story worth Telling

Tips and Tricks to Writing Fiction

A

s the author’s fingertips push the keys, their mind flows into the document shown on their screen. Letters form words, words form sentences, and sentences form images from the author’s mind, projecting those images into the mind of the reader, possibly exactly the same as the author’s mind sees them, or the complete opposite. No matter what the reader or the author sees, the result is the same: the reader is transported into another world, feeling the same feelings, seeing the same sights, and dreaming the same dreams as the characters the author creates. The magic of storytelling is that experience: being taken into another world and experiencing the world through another’s eyes.

Although many people have tried and succeeded at creating this magic, it’s not easy for everyone. According to the New York Post, being a writer is one of the 10 most popular dream jobs for kids.

However, that dream proves difficult to reach for many. Lots of kids want to create stories to transport people to a new world, move them, and inspire them, but don’t have the tools, knowledge, and skills to do so.

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Janet Burroway is an American writer and professor who has taught at various universities around the world and wrote the most widely used fiction writing textbook in America, Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. She was also the recipient of the Florida Humanities Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Writing in 2014 and has written 8 full-length novels as well as many other poems, screenplays, short stories, and children’s books.

Her biggest advice on starting a story is that in the first few pages, “a question [needs to be] raised with a big stake the answer. Will the criminal be caught, will the couple get together, will the town be saved? Mind you, the question can be small if the desire of the protagonist is intense.

Will they catch that fish? Will the formal outfit arrive in time? Will the best friend turn out to be the source of the bullying? The story needs to be rooted in the specific: this place, this situation, this person” She also mentioned that there must be a “desire to be sought

and the problem to be solved”.

The most important part of starting a story is to get the reader invested, and the best way to get them invested is to establish a goal of the main characters that the reader wants to see reached. This goal doesn’t necessarily have to be good or bad, but needs to be interesting and engaging to think about, or at the very least be something for the reader to look forward to.

However, for the main characters to have a goal, one must first have main characters. A big roadblock in many writers’ way is characters, often because of common misconceptions that they have about writing them. Lead characters don’t need to be likable, good people, or even relatable. In fact, Award-winning author and UT professor Elizabeth McCracken said the opposite.

“Sometimes my students use the word relatable as far as characters go. That’s not something that makes sense to me; I don’t need characters to seem like they’re like me. I’d like characters to feel deeply

“The story needs to be rooted in the specific: this place, this situation, this person” -Janet Burroway

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human, which means having high-minded thoughts and ugly thoughts and holding petty grudges, but also, you know, being capable of love.”

The most important thing about writing characters, or at least human characters, is that they feel human and real. No character should ever be perfect, and no character should be pure evil. They can seem that way on the surface, but underneath, there always must be something deeper for the reader to think of them as real people.

Professor McCracken also says that writers should “really listen to what characters think and feel, and to concentrate on how that makes them act, that’s when the plot is interesting to me, it’s because people are doing things. And other people are reacting to things that are said or done or even things that you know, that they see happen.”

Many people write and organize their stories by separating characters from plot, but for a plot to be interesting, it’s necessary for major characters to directly impact and drive the plot. Active goals and actions of characters make for both interesting characters and anengaging storyline. Side characters can react to

the actions of the main characters but their responce shouldn’t be the main focus of the plot.

One of the hardest parts of writing characters is finding a way to make their actions feel natural and real. Often, the best way to write a story is not to start with a plot idea, but with characters, or in many cases, the setting. The main characters’ feelings or reactions to the setting are often easier to construct naturally, and can help move the plot forward without feeling forced to do so.

Elizabeth McCracken mentioned that “if you have a hard time getting your characters to do something, send them out of the house so that they’re in a physical place where other people might bother them, or they might see something interesting”. The outside world’s actions at the characters, causing them to react and spur the plot forward, is a great way to get the story moving.

Even with all of these tips and tricks to writing, the biggest piece of the puzzle is still your imagination. To write a story, you have to think through what you want out of it, and put that on the page. So get out there, start your stories, and create that magic.

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11) Return with Elixir

The hero comes back home a changed person with the growth and knowledge that they’ve learned along the way.

The Hero’s

By Kirby

10) Resurrection

The hero faces their last test to reenter the ordinary world and is “reborn”. This is often metaphorical, but in certain cases literally some kind of transformation.

9) The Road Back

8) Seizing the Sword

The hero receives some kind of reward for accomplishing their goal that they can take back with them. This could be literal treasure, but often it’s more metaphorical; some kind of knowledge or realization.

7) Supreme Ordeal

The hero faces a high-stakes situation where they must prove themselves to complete their final objective.

6) Innermost Cave

The hero (and allies) reach the entrance of the dangerous place where they will complete their goal. The object of the quest or final boss to beat is through the entrance.

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/yenruoj-soreh/erutcurts-yrots/ediug/moc.ysdeer.golb//:sptth :ecruoS

The hero begins to return to the ordinary world and sees the results of what they accomplished along the way.

The Hero’s Journey, also known as the Hero Cycle or Monomyth, is a vague, flexible structure that almost every story follows. This is often metaphorical, and doesn’t literally translate, but the ideas in behind the Hero’s Journey can be seen in nearly every legend, myth, book, movie, and all other forms of storytelling.

It can even

Journey Barnhill

1) Ordinary World

Exactly what it sounds like; the hero’s world is normal, but that doesn’t mean the world is necessarily good. Often, the hero’s world’s problems are what cause them to leave.

2) Call to Adventure

be applied to stories as you’re creating them and used to make them more engaging and comprehensible. These steps generally happen inthis order, but aren’t always exactly the same and can be shuffled around to make things more interesting.

Something calls the hero to leave their home on a journey, usually with a goal to accomplish.

This call can be refused by the hero, with the hero often trying to return to the ordinary world or not wanting to leave, but it’s reinforced to make sure the hero has no choice but to leave.

3) Meeting with Mentor

The hero meets a wise figure who helps the hero in some way, and usually stays behind in the “Ordinary World” (But not always).

4) Crossing the threshold

The hero arrives at a point where they leave what they consider to be their ordinary world and the story really kicks off. This “Threshold” is often guarded and the hero must fight to get through.

5) Tests, Allies, Enemies

The hero has entered the new world, and they learn, grow, encounter problems, and meet friends as they travel through it. This is almost always the longest stage, and is often where the majority of character development and worldbuilding takes place.

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“Barnes and Noble Bookstore, Sundance Square” by user StevenM_61 on Creative Commons

Read the Market

An Insight into the World of Book Selling Read the Room | 14

By Erin Kelly

In an age where endless content is available at the press of a key or a tap on a touchscreen, how are bookstores holding up, and how do they work in the first place?

Well, the first link of the book selling chain is the production of the book itself. Initially, an author must finish writing their manuscript, an endeavor which can typically take many months or even years. Then, the manuscript is sent through an acquiring editor and a copy editor. As their titles suggest, these people make or suggest any necessary

“Green Books” by user LollyKnit on Creative Commons

changes to the text. This usually entails changes to the piece’s grammar, spelling or changes to maintain a constant style of writing. With these tasks, a copy editor’s job is to make sure that the finished product is a topgrade piece of work. Once the manuscript has been judged to be finalized, it will gain the status of “in production”. Though this process will vary depending on the format any given story is told through, generally speaking, this is the stage where page designing, numbering and some of the book cover designing will occur.

After the manuscript has been initially formatted into page layouts, a first draft or a “dummy” version of the book will be made and printed for the author and editors to review. Any necessary changes will be made and then the book will

be moved on to the final stages of its production; printing, binding, and shipping. The finalized pages are sent to a printer, who will begin the actual manufacturing of the books. This is also when many books are translated into ebook format, which many initially thought would remove some demand for physical copies of “Well there are all different kinds of bookstores...those are run differently from each other, but really you just have to enjoy what you do” - David Gerber (Barnes and Noble Manager)

many books, but the industry has been dropping in sales after their boost in 2020, due to most staying at home due to

COVID-19. To get a better perspective on the inner workings of book sales, I interviewed David Gerber, who is a manager at Barnes & Noble and very experienced in that industry, “I believe that eBooks are pretty much leveled on their growth …a lot of people are coming back to physical books” said David. After some of the first books that come off the press are sent to the author, the books are ready to be packaged and sent to a publisher’s warehouse. From here, the books are sent off to individual retailers like Book People, Barnes & Noble or online retailers like Amazon.

Once all of the production for the book itself is completed, it’s ready to hit the shelves, which is where the actual selling part of book selling comes in. A bookstore’s biggest asset and investment is its stock of books. Decisions regarding what books are ordered or reordered is typically dependent on a corporate branch of a chain bookstore. This means that the bookstores will try to have what is popular in, based on information from previous buyers and current trends. While a given store’s inventory is its best asset, it can also be its biggest monetary loss. If the store buys unpopular books that very few customers want, they will be losing money that could’ve been better spent on other titles.

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“I mean, we have our own online presence [but] Amazon’s definitely made an impact [on our sales]” says Barnes & Noble manager David Gerber.

A bookstore can obviously encounter business problems from within itself, but what about the problems that come from outside any actual book stores- competitors or not? Yes, competition from other stores within the industry can make it challenging for a store to be successful, but another larger competition has been becoming more prevalent over recent years. Online bookselling from sites like Amazon has also posed as a big competitor for what may now be considered older-style store chains.

It seems like Amazon.com has been able to pose a real threat to the classics like Barnes & Noble or Book People.

Aside from a book store’s competitors, the other key aspect of getting and maintaining significant sales and profits is their customer base. But when talking about books specifically, many tend to think something along the lines of; “Are young people even interested in reading books anymore?” This isn’t a new idea by any means though, because from when many social media sites came Read the Room | 16

out and gained more popularity throughout the early 2000s to now, many teachers and parents have voiced their concerns about teens steering away from books as a source of entertainment. Many teens and young adults even report transitioning away from reading and towards online media companies or social media sites as their prima-

“I think the increase in social media use has really had an impact on the amount of people that read nowadays” -K. Tsao (english major)

ry source of entertainment. “You know, I really don’t see anyone with paper books anymore because I feel like everyone can find content online because of social media sites” says Kevin Tsao, a current English major at UT Austin.

But is it really the younger generations that are giving up reading? Many adults seem to agree with the notion, and many blame social media for this change. This might not really be the case, and young audiences definitely aren’t the only ones that find themselves more

inclined to turn on the television than to pick up a novel. A Gallup poll actually reports that there is a greater decline in the sheer number of books that are being read per year in the age group of older adults, aged 55 and up. On the other side of that spectrum are young adults and teenagers. This group had the least amount of change, only a reported 0.8% of negative change, as opposed to the older group’s 4.7% change.

Even considering their recent challenges, bookstores haven’t ever been particularly profitable. Of course, there are differences between independent stores and chains when it comes to sales and profits, but the industry itself just doesn’t seem to be a big money-maker, especially when compared to other industries. Many individuals within the industry and many others who are simply familiar with reading have different opinions regarding the demographics of most readers. Some younger people like Kevin think “social media makes it so that people don’t have to read anymore because they have all these other forms of entertainment that don’t involve reading”. Others disagree with that and actually argue for young adults and teens saying “I think there’s always [been] a kind of stigma about how kids usually don’t want to read and how [they pre-

dustry has had to face and the retailers, it seems that physical changes that they have had to bookstores are going to be here make in recent times. But, it to stay for a while longer. seems like young people still have their connections to books as a medium, despite some of the negative perceptions of older people. So, despite the competitions that they have faced, specifically in regards to online

“Weekend Finished Books” by user LollyKnit on Creative Commons

fer being] online but it feels like it’s kind of almost going the opposite [direction] right now”.

So, whether you agree or disagree with the idea that young people aren’t readers because of the impact of social media and the “internet age”, you can acknowledge the challenges that the book selling in-

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Austin Libraries A GUIDE TO FINDING BOOKS ACROSS THE CITY

By Erin Kelly

1. Yarbrough Branch 2200 Hancock Dr. Austin, TX 78756

4. Willie Mae Kirk Branch 3103 Oak Springs Dr. Austin, TX 78702

2. St. John Branch 7500 Blessing Ave. Austin, TX 78752

5. Austin Central Library 710 W Cesar Chavez St. Austin, TX 78701

3. Windsor Park Branch 5833 Westminster Dr. Austin, TX 78723

6. Howson Branch 2500 Exposition Blvd.

Austin, TX 78703

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2

1

3 6

5

4

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A Colorful Bookshelf

Why Diversity is Important in YA Literature

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Taken By Karter Henkelman

magine you are standing in ty are all that are represented in ing their experiences and ending a bookstore cafe. The smell literature. This means that a lot the silence around the LGBT+ of coffee makes you feel of individuals cannot see them- community. Of the stories out calm and at home, the aromas fill s e l v e s through there, so many of them either your nose and the chatter makes only have an LGBT character bepleasant background noise for cause they want to be able to say To be able to your aimless browsing through they are inclusive, or they only put a book in someone’s the shelves. However, you canrepresent the character through hands and have it actually not see yourself in any of the classic ideas or stereotypes books. It doesn’t matter how that don’t actually represent either open their eyes or many stories are laid out in prepare them to open their eyes the full depth of the commufront of you, there won’t be nity. or make them feel safe in a way a single book that represents they haven’t felt safe before your specific identity. It makes the world feel so large It is important for kids to reor anything. That is the best when nobody seems to share ceive a more well-rounded view feeling in the world. your experiences. You could of the LGBT community so that K A Holt wander the face of the Earth and they don’t they will go into the never find a book that represents o t h e r s ’ world with preconceived ideas what you yearn to read. books and people don’t want to that are skewed and untrue. There share their stories because they are a lot of books that are for kids LGBT people feel like this all the don’t fit the current ones avail- or teens with great representatime because only the stereotyp- able. This is a toxic loop that can tion, but there are also many with ical ideas about their communi- only be broken by someone shar- bad representation. Robert Car-

Redwood amd Ponytail By K A Holt

I

By Karter Henkelman

Taken By Karter Henkelman Wilder Girls By Rory Power

roll, a professor of communications at UT who has studied how people come out to their friends and family, said, “things that share representation, [such as] graphic novels and comic books today have been so wonderful in helping a generation come to terms with their identity… Yes, more literature, more novels, more things to just normalize these identities, the better.” He is talking addressing how important it is to value a person over the labels or the singular piece of their identity and have to look at the person as a whole. He also talks about increasing the sheer volume of LGBT stories because they can’t all be the same.

The book Wilder Girls by Rory Power is a great example of someone’s sexuality being important but not the main plot; it’s not the main character’s only personality trait. Hetty is a very

well-rounded and flawed character, which is different from other stories where the female protagonist has to be perfect all the time.

Power said that “part of feminism is allowing people other than men to be horrible… [I want to write about] some girls who do really, really stupid things and make bad choices and are selfish and messy. And they look after themselves.” This is also breaking the stigma because a lot of LGBT characters are portrayed as perfect and can do no wrong.

But Hetty is a strong, selfish, and kind female protagonist who happens to be gay.

Rory Power also had a lot of issues with people not realizing that the book was supposed to have LGBT relationships and she said that “[Writing Wilder Girls] was definitely an exercise in learning how to put some arrows in the text to [the LGBT topics] so that people who weren’t necessarily automatically cued into it would know that’s what they were looking at”. People’s ignorance is tied to how most stories with LGBT concepts are in the foreground so dramatically that when it’s more subtle, people don’t see it at all.

Another YA novel with gay characters is called Redwood and Ponytail by K. A. Holt. It’s a story of two girls at school who “fall into like”. Holt said that she wrote this because “I wish I had had a book like that when I was a

kid.” Redwood and Ponytail is an amazing representation of questioning your identity, and Holt even said that she didn’t want to write “a horrible coming out sto-

ry. I didn’t want it to be so much about coming out to everyone else and more just, being okay with…who you like.” This emphasizes that coming out is a lot more than just telling one person, there’s a lot of self-acceptance that comes with it.

Holt also said that “the biggest message is just that only you get to decide who you are. [and] just learning to love yourself and not care what other people think.”

This is very clear in Redwood and Ponytail because there are a few characters that don’t accept the main characters, Kate and Tam, for who they are, and this makes them doubt their feelings for each other. Although getting alternative opinions is important, Read the Room | 21

other people don’t know you as and movies that try to seem incluwell as you do. sive but the stereotype becomes the character’s whole personaliAnother problem with stereo- ty. Carroll says, “in Glee, all the typical LBGT books is that they characters who came out as queer contain the trope of coming out being the only step, and then it’s over. Robert Carroll studied a lot of people who have come out and most of them have had to have multiple conversations with the same people, especially people that don’t understand well. Carroll said that “identity is “rainbow books” by PhylB is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0. a negotiation” which is very true for coming are super flamboyant. And this out. This is never mentioned in would go and fall into the stereonovels, it’s always just one con- types of performance and identiversation without any follow-ups ty. And that’s not the case, there by any party. This means a lot of is a full spectrum of who people people expect coming out to their family to be quick and easy, but even if they are positive about it, it can still take a while to fully make your identity known.

media]. And that to me is super harmful, because it doesn’t allow people to write their own stories about who they are. “ Carroll explains this very well, that in shows people make it seem more interesting to be LGBT, and then it takes up the whole character. It also makes people think that all gay men have to be super feminine and flamboyant and lesbians are always masculine presenting.

This sometimes forces people who fall under these umbrellas to make themselves act a certain way so they fit the mold and are taken seriously by the straight community.

Lastly, an additional negative aspect that is portrayed in books is that all LGBT people have some sort of anxiety, depression, etc, and even though LGBT people have a Another stereotype porhigher chance of mental trayed through media is the health issues, it doesn’t flamboyant gay best friend. mean that the community This is very harmful to both is broken in any way. In people who don’t act that a lot of books, the LGBT way and people who do. It character has issues with pegs that way of acting as self-esteem and confibeing gay and acting difdence, and even though ferently means you can’t be gay. are and how they perform. But this can be true, it is important This is very clear in TV shows we see that simplified down [in to depict a strong and confident

yes, a lot of members of the community struggle with anxiety and depression. That is a fact. But we are more than that. And there are great stories and things.

- Robert Carroll

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By Karter Henkelman

character who happens to be queer to more accu- fully-fledged individuals instead of someone with rately represent the community. one attribute.

All of this is not to say that LGBT books are all inherently bad, there are just a lot of issues with the current literature out there. Some good books in my opinion are Malice, Redwood and Ponytail, Wilder Girls, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Wonders of the World, and The Midnight Lie. All of these books have LGBT characters and depict them as

Some of the many LGBT books in the LASA library

Taken by Karter Henkelman

It is very important for everyone to discover their own reading style and their favorite kinds of books.

The more representation we have in our day-to-day literature, the more we can accept each other in our day-to-day life.

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Romeo and Juliet

YES

NO

Do you want a playwrite?

Pride and Prejudice

YES

NO

By Ray Bradbury

Farenhight 451

YES

FANTASY

Do you want a coming of age story?

Do you want a SciFi story?

Guy Montag lives in an oppressive society that attempts to eliminate all sources of complexity, contradiction, and confusion to ensure uncomplicated happiness for all its citizens.

NO

Do you want a love story?

FICTION

Do you want a fiction or fantasy story?

NO YES

Do you want an adventure?

The Illiad

Mythical

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Do you want the story to feature kids?

Alice falls down a rabbit hole and lands into a fantasy world that is full of weird, wonderful people and animals.

By Lewis Carroll

Magical

Mythical or Magical?

BY KARTER HENKELMAN

WHAT CLASSICAL BOOK SHOULD YOU READ?

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Catcher and the Rye

A coming-of-age story about a girl named Scout. Scout and her brother Jem try to understand and relate to their father, Atticus, who is a lawyer charged with defending a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman.

By Harper Lee

To Kill a Mocking Bird

YES NO

Do you want the story to examine racism?

YES NO

Do you want the story to critique society?

YES

NO

Do you want the a teenage narrator?

The Great Gaspy

Hatchet

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March are raised in genteel poverty by their loving mother, Marmee, in a quiet Massachusetts town while their father serves in the American Civil War. They befriend Theodore Lawrence (Laurie), the lonely grandson of a rich old man next door.

By Louisa May Alcott

Little Women

War and Peace

YES NO

Lord of the Flies

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

A group of young boys who find themselves alone on a deserted island. They develop rules and a system of organization, but without any adults to serve as a civilizing impulse, the children eventually become violent and brutal.

William Golding

NO YES

Do you want the story to involve friendship?

YES NO

Do you want a survival story?

YES

Moby Dick

Treasure Island

NO YES

Do you want a lighhearted story?

NO

The Shunned Genre Should modern fantasy have a place in higher education?

By: Paul Sheerin

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If you’ve ever taken a college level literature class you may have encountered a general dislike for modern fantasy in your professors. This, largely in part to Edmund Wilson and his generation of modernists, is not uncommon. Many academics look down on fantasy and believe no fiction is to be taken seriously unless under the exclusive title of realism.

Fantasy is a genre of imagination, packed with made-up worlds and mythical beings. It is a vessel to escape, to leave the ordinary behind. However, there is more to this over-simplified genre.

Fantasy authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, although not the founders of all fantasy, have propelled the modern form of the genre into what it is today. Despite their positions as applauded professors, their creative works were seen as unworthy of higher education. Hence the stereotype of modern fantasy as a purely escapist waste of time.

Creative writing teachers, they try to teach students to write the good, serious short story. But I think the fact of the matter is, while there still are plenty of people who do read that kind of writing, there’s a much broader audience out there for fantasy.

“[Fantasy] is an escapist discourse that ignores material reality in favor of pseudo-Christian and medieval nostalgia,” Derick Lee, a literature scholar, explains from the standpoint of a critical academic. Then, around the 1960’s, fantasy writers began challenging this assumption, among them Ursula K. Le Guin.

Le Guin states that contemporary fantasy has evolved, taking shape with overtly historical and political aspects. For example, author George R. R. Martin drew on extensive scholarship of the Wars of the Roses in 15th century England to write Game of Thrones. China Mieville, another acclaimed writer of modern fantasy, integrates Marxist Theory into his works and is a left-wing political activist. Writers such as Joe Abercrombie are far from being nostalgic, who use fantasy to depict complex political situations full of ethical ambiguity and don’t shy away from the horrors of warfare.

“Historically, in academia, fantasy has been

looked down on a bit more compared to you know, quote, unquote, literary realism.” Said Professor Mary-Helen Specht, who teaches creative writing at St. Edward’s University. “So in college at some point, I wasn’t really reading that much fantastic, cool stuff, in part because my professors and the people I admired at the time didn’t give it a lot of respect.”

This is the classic scenario of professors setting the standard to shun modern fantasy and passing it on to their students. However, Specht picked reading fantasy back up in grad school and continues to read and occasionally write fantasy.

St. Edward’s Professor of Medieval Literature and Creative Writing Alan Altimont also thinks there is more to writing than the “good serious short story” and that there is a much broader audience for fantasy.

“I think that as teachers we have to be more open to that kind of thing,” Altimont stated. “Fantasy lets writers be more flexible and creative about how they imagined solutions to things,” Altimont also said, “I think it always relates to the real world.

Good fantasy does, and so that’s another reason why it’s valid and people need to take it seriously.”

Specht had insights on the value of fantasy as well. “Some of the writers that I teach in my classes, technically they’re writing about another planet, or technically they’re writing about a dystopia. But if you look closely, they’re really writing about what’s happening in our world, and just allowing us to see it from a different perspective. So Ray Bradbury, he’s writing about Mars, but if you read closely, he’s really writing about, you know, our own xenophobia amongst foreigners here,” Specht said. “Making a scene from a different perspective by putting down aliens that he’s created on a different planet. And so I think sometimes we can really understand aspects of our world, just from a fresh perspective, when we’re kind of put outside of our own human realistic bounds” Altimont highlighted this idea of getting beyond the human when he said, “So much of fantasy allows us to get beyond just the human. Realistic fiction is very much about the human, and while humans are often in other fantastical fiction, that usually has a broader sense in terms of the larger kind of ecolRead the Room | 27

ogy of worlds that fantastical fiction is exploring.”

Dee Cardenas, a highschool teacher and D&D workshopper, talked about the educational gain that writing fantasy offers. She said that she works with a population of kids who often come to her as resistant writers, but by introducting them to fantasy she is able to easily move them through the writing process.

But where does the appeal for modern fantasy come from? Fantasy is disdained by so many, but what draws people to read it beyond escaping, and what makes it a good escape?

The whole notion of living in a world where one person who has these special qualities can solve all kinds of problems, defeat all kinds of villains, is just a constant. People love stories like that. And I think it’s in part because our experience of the real world is that no one was going to get on the battlefield in Afghanistan, one person, and defeat the Taliban.

Specht identified that a big pull towards fantasy for her is the novelty it brings. “Fantastical fiction, and all fiction does this to some degree, but fantastical fiction even more so, it’s kind of the only opportunity I’m really gonna

have to explore worlds outside of our own, like other lives, other ways of being in the world.”

For others it’s nostalgia that draws them in, and on that idea Specht said, “I think part of this also comes to YA, young adult literature.

With HarryPotter, when that became a huge hit, and then Hun also comes to YA, young adult literature. With Harry Potter, when that became a huge hit, and then Hunger Games, and these kinds of series that became huge hits, not just amongst young people, but adults were hiding them behind grocery bags, and they’re reading the books too, even if they don’t want to be seen reading them.”

Altimont had a broader explanation for modern fantasy’s popularity. He said, “Just the whole notion of living in a world where one person who has these special qualities can solve all kinds of problems, defeat all kinds of villains, is just a constant. People love stories like that. And I think it’s in part because our experience of the real world is that no one was going to get on the battlefield in Afghanistan, one person, and defeat the Taliban.”

So is there a definitive answer whether or not fantasy should be used in higher education? There is no conclusive answer, but academics have begun shifting in favor of modern fantasy in college curriculums.

“St. Edward’s University. Main Building” by nikkorsnapper

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On this note, Specht said “In my experience, there does seem to be a trend towards academia being more open to fantastical fiction than it used to. It’s not always the case, and there are still both creative writing professors and literature professors that are uncomfortable teaching things that might be in that genre. But I feel like more and more often we’re seeing people opening up to that.”

Altimont has had a similar experience , which he elaborated on when he said, “I feel like it’s our there.

It’s coming, or it’s really already here with so many of our students this interest, and the interest of the population at large, is really focused on fantasy now.”

Alan Altimont is a Professor of English Literature and Writing at St. Edward’s University.

He has been teaching there for over thirty years.

Altimont recieved a B.A. in English at Georgetown University in 1976 and later recieved a PhD. in English at The University of Minesota in 1990.

Mary-Helen Specht teaches fiction and creative writing within the department of Literature, Writing and Rhetoric at St. Edward’s University. She also runs the Marcia Kinsey Visiting Writers Series. Specht recieved her B.A. in English at Rice Univeristy in 2001 and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Emerson College in 2006.

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The Raw Materials That Make Modern Books

You’ve probably seen and touched thousands of books and even read some of them; what is it you actually have in your hands when you hold a book?

Paper:

Paper is generally made out of pulp derived from plant matter. Ideal plants for paper creation include fiborous leaves, such as iris leaves, or the branches of softwood trees, such as pine. Paper can also be made from recycled paper materials.

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By Paul Sheerin

Ink:

Common book ink is created from a combination of carbon black, often obtained as soot, and various chemicals

Book Covering:

The book covering that wraps around a hardcover book is made out of cloth doveloped from flax or cotton fibers

Sources: dendro, mixerdirect, papercraftpanda

Hardcover: The cover of a book is created with layers of thick paper. Paper layers range from 1-ply to 8-ply.

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Mural of Journey to the West on display in Hong Kong “Mural - Journey to the West” by kcma17 is marked with CC BY 2.0.

Journey to the Present

Journey To The West, written in the 16th century by Wu Cheng’en, is considered one of four great classic novels of Chinese literature. It follows the story of monk Tripitaka and his disciples as he journeys west to retrieve buddhist scripturesThese disciples consist of Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King, Zhu Bajie, who is half pig, half man and known as Pigsy for his greedy and lustful nature, and Sha Wujing, Read the Room | 32

by Lalsin Nilian

aka Sandy, a polite and obedient consultant to the monk.

Overly Sarcastic Productions is a youtube channel which specializes in literature and historical analysis. Journey to

the West is a popular youtube series of theirs, run by a person who goes by the alias “Red”, in which she talks about and animates the more memorable comedic and humorous side of the ancient Chinese tale.

Red says that Journey to the West was a fictionalized retelling of an actual journey of monk Xuanzang from China to India for the purpose of acquiring Buddhist texts in order to resolve inconsisten-

cies and confusion. “The story itself covers a lot of bases, but its primary structure is an allegory for the journey to enlightenment, with the disciples and Tripitaka playing roles as different aspects of the process of attaining enlightenment.”

She thinks the story’s purpose was satirizing large parts of Chinese bureaucracy such as criticizing it as an inefficient and useless system of government. Beyond that, however, the story was really just to entertain. “Parts of it are just plain hilarious, and the monster-of-the-week episodic action-adventure tone makes it genuinely just really fun to read or retell.”

Bradley Willis, a historian focusing on the East Asian area, believes that the reason for its presence in the modern era, especially Sun Wukong, is its episodic and self-contained adventures. “As an enthusiastic rule-breaking super-overpowered protagonist [Sun Wukong’s] very easy to slot into all sorts of settings, and is generally just fun to watch. He has a tendency to disrupt any rigid structure he finds himself in, so his characterization serves as a source of chaos shaking up the status quo.”

Red agrees with this idea, saying “it’s a very simple story composed of very solid components, it’s very easy to adapt into other forms of media or to abridge into fun bite-sized adaptations, and the story itself is fairly time. less and thus ages very gracefully.” She adds on, saying that the majority of this story’s modern popularity comes from secondary sources that drew inspiration from the text.

Dragon Ball, for example, is a big one which is a large part of the popularity in the West.

There is a double edged sword to this timelessness, however.

In regards to the adaptations of Journey to the West, Willis remarks that “the allegorical journey of enlightenment, the political satire, and even the core buddhist elements are often lost in the adaptation” Maria Pollard, a historian fo-

“[Sun Wukong] has a tendency to disrupt any rigid structure he finds himself in, so his characterization serves as a source of chaos shaking up the status quo” -Red cusing on how cultural stories have bled into other countries and time periods, remarks that “centuries-old political satire and highly specific Buddhist allegories have less universal audience appeal than the core cast of wacky protagonists problem-solving and fighting monsters” in explaining why these elements would have been lost in most adaptations of this story.

But why this story specifically? What kept it in the mind of writers today for centuries after being written? Pollard thinks that the original text holds up well enough and covers so much ground that writers can keep going back to the original for inspiration. “The story’s quality wasn’t itself enough to make

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it popular in the modern day, ney to the West was ultimately but the story’s quality to entertain, similarly combined with the to what Red mennumber of high-qualtioned before. And in “The story has definitely ity and entertaining that sense, it has held been reduced in some tellstories that adapt or up incredibly well in reference it has kept the modern modern ings down to “five-man band people coming back adaptations. fights monsters of the week,” to it,” she adds. which isn’t inherently bad Willis seems to agree with this idea, sayor anything, but it definitely ing “plenty of great loses a lot of what makes the stories didn’t get that kind of consistent original story so interesting” adaptation to keep -Red them in the public consciousness, but Journey to the West wouldn’t have survived so long if it wasn’t also a really good story” Adding on to this, Willis mentioned that the original texts themselves were translated very well into English, which would have helped Picture of Sun Wukong, otherwise known as the Monkey King writers to draw inspira- “MONKEY JOURNEY TO THE WEST” by allogo is marked with CC BY 2.0. tion from it. In the end, Willis agrees with the idea that JourRead the Room | 34

Toy light of Sun Wukong, otherwise known as The Monkey King “Sun Wukong” by caffeina is marked with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

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Percentage of Books Containing Mythologies

By Lalsin Nilian

Native American (6.67%) Korean (9.33%) The Riordanverse (37.33%)

Hindu (9.33%)

Mesopotamian (5.33%) Hmong (5.33%)

African (12%)

Japanese (5.33%) Mayan/Aztec/Mexican (9.33%)

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Greek Egyption

The Riordanverse seems to be a big chunk - but it’s easy to forget that it is a fictional universe containing elements and stories from Greek, Egyption, Norse, and Roman mythologies! Because these stories and mythologies overlap in the amazing world Riordan created, these are collectively known as the Riordanverse Norse

Roman

Everybody knows the classic books by Rick Riordan - but what about other books? Using information from the Riordan Presents website (which is a project hoping to shine light on underrepresented cultures and mythologies in books) we were able to create this graph.

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